Flames
by 00-VampireKisses-00
Summary: When the team spot a mysterious house fire, what they find there changes their lives. Features a WHOLE lotta Owen.
1. House Fire

Hey, well, I've been wanting to write this for a little while just plainly because I wanted to so now my dream has come true Starting off at K but as chapters develop, probably will turn to a T. Owen Harper is the macaroni to my cheese!!! Hee!

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**House Fire**

Jack's POV

"Tosh, you called me here for a house fire? I was out with a lovely French girl whose hobbies include Chinese food, badminton and ze style of kizzing native to 'er country..."

"Jeez, Jack. Get a diary. In case you forgot all these things are lost to me." Owen sighed.

"Hello?" Tosh brought us back to earth.

"Men..." sighed Gwen.

"Mmm... Chinese food."

"That was kinda random Ianto. Can I call you 'Toe' for short?" I smiled flirtatiously and everyone at the table blushed. Oh yeah- I still got it.

"How do you do that?" asked Owen, not blushing due to being dead and in fact having no circulation at all. "I've always wanted to be more... What's the word? Dashing."

"Hello?!" Someone's getting stressy...

I put on my angel face. "Sorry Tosh."

"Yeah. Whatever." Mission angel face failed. "Now, if you'll look at the screen," Tosh pointed at the screen at the front of the room. Multiple satellite images and videos of a house fire came up. "And if we turn to infra-red..." The house was invisible- impossibly hot. "And to a mode where we can view alien activity, well, that aint good." The screen was white. The energy was off the scale. This was the most powerful thing Torchwood had had to deal with for a long time. Well, Torchwood 3 in Cardiff anyway.

"What are we going to do?" whimpered Ianto.

"I'm thinking we go in and bring down this sucker!"

"This isn't 'Invasion: House Fire' for Xbox 360, Owen. This is _real_ life. We're going to need equipment."

"Gwen, we don't have that type of equipment!" said Tosh, still stressing.

"We don't but-"

I interrupted Ianto, "I think it's time we called on our friend at UNIT."

Owen smiled mischievously.

Pretty horny for a dead guy.

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Soo... What do you think?? All **reviews** welcome, except the strangely appropriate flames.. But please do **review**. If you want to be mean, say it nicely

00-VampireKisses-00


	2. Miss Martha

Hey guys, I'm back again! I took all your reviews on board and here are my answers:

**bbmcowgirl: **Thanks for the review and I'm glad you enjoyed it. The plot will become clearer later in the story and I guess Ianto is… acceptable

**Gamine Madcap: **This chapter's in the third person now and I have to agree with you- it sounds a lot better. I have no idea why Jack's out with a French girl… I also have no idea why I just drew the little Monopoly guy on my hand…

**LadyGreer: **Sorry for the confusion but the plot will become clearer later- I just enjoy writing short chapters. I am sorry to say that there are no refunds and so you will not be getting your interest back.

So this is the second chapter of 'Flames' and I hope you enjoy it!

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**Miss Martha**

"Miss Jones, Martha, UNIT, London. Business: weapon distribution. Requesting access to Torchwood 3, The Hub, from Captain Jack Harkness."

"And the password for this esteemed establishment?"

"Jack, don't make me say it."

"Come on!"

"Open the door."

"Access denied."

"Grr. Cheese sarnie, egg sarnie, burger in a bun. Sitting on Jack's lap is fun, fun, fun!" The last half was said with a considerable amount sarcasm. "The whole team's laughing at me now, aren't they?"

"No!" giggled Owen, Gwen, Tosh and Ianto.

"Okay Martha. The Captain has decided you've had enough. Come in, the door's open."

As Martha crept in she muttered something about 'hate' and 'simpletons' before saying, "Don't laugh at the person with your alien butt-kicking equipment."

"Martha, my sweet! I could never laugh at you! Not after the incident in the autopsy room." Owen smiled a cheesy grin and followed Martha to the main room.

She laid out some guns and other devices on the table. Then she turned around, brushed down her skirt and shouted, "SCRAMBLE!"

The team rushed towards the table, trying to use as little violence as possible, although Jack used an elbow to get the big gun.

He cradled it in his arms, turned to Martha and asked, "Who's this little fella?"

"_That_ is the Elemental I; with a flick of a switch turn from blizzard, to mud, to hose, to whirlwind. And Tosh, you've got the Spirit Stalker." Tosh was holding/wearing something obviously inspired by Ghostbusters. "Capture ghosts, phantoms and the like by pressing the red button. Owen, that's the Psychic Pro." His piece of equipment was a PDA look-alike. "It tracks brainwaves in an adjustable radius. And Gwen, that's the Disintagrix." Gwen's gun was small and chunky with rounded edges- a smaller version of Jack's. "It disintegrates anything on contact. Just pull the trigger. And last but not least, actually Ianto that's a gun. Just a gun. Get the laser rifle, much more advanced."

"What's its name?"

"What?"

"The rifle! What's its name?"

"The Laser Rifle."

"It's now called the Rifleator. EXTREME!"

"OK... Everyone happy?" Nods all round.

"THEN LET'S BRING DOWN THIS SUCKER!"

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Ta-dah!!! Please review... If you're reading this the now would be a good time... Merci xxx

00-VampireKisses-00


	3. Hell

Here comes Chapter 3 (which is kind of a mini chapter) but first, some replies…

**Gamine Madcap: **For the whole weapons thing, I just think it gave Martha an edge. Sometimes she can get on my nerves but I just thought she should be in the story. I agree- Ianto is just SO sweet!

**bbmcowgirl: **Glad you still find the story entertaining and thanks for the review!

**GwenCooperofTorchwood: **Owen is the shiznick! That's a good thing, lol. Happy to see another reader that will hopefully keep reading.

**LadyGreer: **Hmm… How do I reply to such a short review? Like this: Okie!!!

**Sabby: **Thank you- get an account and keep reading.

I just realised that I haven't put up a disclaimer so I will put up one big one now that will count for the whole of my story:

**ME NO OWN TORCHWOOD OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES!**

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**Hell**

It was only once the team had started the journey to the house they realised what they were in for. They realised all the confidence they'd had was just bravado. They realised just how big the energy readings were. They realised the real dangers. They realised they were scared. And as they pulled up to the house, they realised no one was safe.

As the team gingerly picked up their weapons and climbed out the van, they saw the damage. The house wasn't visible- only heat, fire, flames and wreckage.

"Jesus Christ." Mumbled Ianto.

Owen was pacing up and down. "There's no way I'm going in there. I'd burn up."

"And you're scared!" Martha laughed.

Owen stopped pacing. "Aren't you?" He shot a piercing look at Martha, then at everybody else.

"No man could survive this." Tosh sighed.

"I can think of one." Gwen turned to Jack.

Owen broke the silence. "Captain Jack Harkness. Welcome to hell."

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Yes, I know the chapter was the same length as/shorter than the notes BUT it was part of the next chapter; I decided to split it up. **Review** please! I'll post the next one after 3 reviews... 


	4. Fire!

I deleted the authors note which no longer matters because in fact my mother did NOT throw away my fanfic I just kinda lost it under the mass of debris, mouldy food and corpses which has replaced the floor in my room. Oops. Anyway, that means no replies so let's get going!

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**Fire!**

Jack took up his gun and Owen's Psychic Pro. He also took Ianto's laser rifle- just in case. After getting many 'good lucks' from the team, he ventured inside.

The door was easy to break down but it was the fire that caused the problem. It _was_ massive. It engulfed everything inside the house and glowed menacing at anything on the outside. Jack switched on the Elemental, swerving it around himself, constantly on blizzard. As he moved in deeper and deeper to the place where the brainwaves were strongest, Jack could see dead bodies of humans and animals in a room, scattered on the fl-

Death.

Life.

Luckily the gun was melting any of the fire touching Jack's coat. It smelt like a barbeque, from the little amount of oxygen the captain could take in, and ashes flew into his eyes from every angle. He climbed up the stairs-

Death.

Life.

As Jack began to climb up the stairs again, he approached a wooden door. A wooden door that wasn't on fire. He slowly pushed it open and saw that it wasn't just the door; the whole room seemed fireproof.

"What's Torchwood gonna do with his one?" he thought. "Tests and experiments to no end. That's a given."

And then he a girl as he was pushed back into the fi-

Death.

Life.

Jack rushed into the room, grabbing the girl and covering her in ice.

"You're coming with me," he commanded.

He rushed her downstairs and outside, clinging onto life with everything he had. Fighting flames and death.

When they staggered out the house everyone stared open mouthed. Jack didn't understand why until he looked at the girl he was holding. Well, maybe girl was a bit of an exaggeration. She was about the same age as everyone else, perhaps one or two years younger but there was something about her that made you want to come closer and stare straight into her lively eyes. But that wasn't why everyone was staring. She was golden. She had amber skin, bronze eyes and flaming red hair that swooped around her like fire. Her nightdress matched her hair in colour and embraced her full figure. She was wearing a silver amulet (obviously alien) and her pearly teeth were snarling at Jack.

"Get off me." Her voice was smooth and angelic. "Get off me right now." Jack let go of her instantly as if she was red hot.

"Let's go." The specimen stood its ground. From once it wasn't a rescue mission anymore, they were all specimens. "Let's _go_." Jack said it more defiantly this time. It followed him to the Jeep and climbed in gingerly.

The atmosphere on the drive home was a black as the car they were sitting in. No one spoke. The new specimen, 448, glanced around at each person in the team. Everyone averted his or her eyes except for Owen who looked at the specimen curiously. When Jack turned around, the two looked away abruptly. He looked at the specimen now, but his look was full of anger. His look was returned with a sly smile.

" If only he knew what 'the specimen' could do with a glance." She thought.

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Whoo! I am so happy with this chapter! It took a little work because it was written in bits and half of it didn't make sense but yeah, it's all good. Please **review** so I can know if it's actually good stuff or if I am just self obsessed- well, _MORE_ self obsessed than I think I am. Thanks and peace out!


	5. Ardea

Chap-a-lap-a-pap-a-tap-ter 5

Chap-a-lap-a-pap-a-tap-ter 5! After these messages…

**goldeneyezebonywingz.X: **I thought the last chap(-a-lap-a-pap-a-tap-)ter was pretty awesome too - You find out the name of 'the specimen' in this chap(-a-lap-a-pap-a-trap-)ter and it took me a while to figure out how to write that whole death/life thing so I'm glad you like it.

**LadyGreer:** I'm not really sure how to reply to this review :s so I will just take this opportunity to be big headed again and proclaim I MADE A TORCHWOOD T-SHIRT AND IT IS to say the least AWESOME!! Maybe it would go with a miniskirt?

BEGIN THE CHAP-A-LAP-A-PAP-A-TAP-TER!!

Ardea

"So, let's take a little look-sie." Owen half sang to himself while preparing various pieces of medical equipment. "You're a new toy for me, you are. Another biological adventure." The institute's doctor inserted an IV into the specimen's hand and flicked some switches. Everything was going fine.

"Need me to explain what's going on? Well, how the hell should I know? They never tell me which ones understand English! Just in case you are getting reception down there, I'm not doing anything dangerous to you. Just a few introductory tests, the result of which I send back to Jack, which are _then_ discussed with the team that will… eventually determine your destiny here, at Torchwood. It's not as bad as it sounds. Honestly." Owen put his hand on his chest, above where his heart should've been beating. " I swear on my life." Owen had lured so many people into a false sense of security with those words.

The specimen forced a smile and whispered something inaudible under her breath. "Let's have a chat." Owen grabbed a chair and sat next to the specimen. This conversation would serve two purposes- establishing a confident yet distant relationship and giving this thing a nametag. "So, what's your name?" The specimen said nothing. The doctor sighed. "Strong and silent. Not a great way to make conversation!" He smiled. So many unfortunate specimens trapped by this lethal script. It hurt him to go so deep- to help someone feel comfortable- just to kill them in the end. But it was his job. "If you don't tell me I'll name you myself! How does Dave sit with you? Or Jeffroy, yes, I did say Jeff_roy. _Or Bob. Or Gertrude. Or Tony Blair? Or… 50 Cent? Come on! I'm running low on names!" The plastic smile smothered on Owen's face was starting to hurt. The preppy way in which he spoke also hurt every fibre in his body. It just wasn't him. And she still wasn't speaking. It was time to improvise. "Right well, my face is hurting so the smile's got to go. I'm gonna call you Hayley because frankly, it doesn't really matter what your name is. Anything you want to tell me before I get Jack?"

"My name's Ardea. The smile was killing me too. You sounded like you were on drugs. Tony Blair was an idiot. And you should slow down when putting needles into people's wrists because it bloody well hurts. Tell whoever wrote that plastic script that I could have done a better job typing with my foot. Oh, and lastly- I'm not planning on staying here, at Torchwood. You can get James, or John or whatever his name was now."

"His name's Jack."

"That's what I said."

"Right then."

"What kind of institute hires a dead guy?"

"What?"

"Think before you speak!" Ardea slapped herself in the middle of the forehead.

"What?"

"Umm… You've got something in your teeth?"

"Oh." Then he clicked. "I wouldn't have something in my teeth!"

"Why not?"

"I… just wouldn't."

"Because you're dead?"

"How do you know?"

"Just do."

"Tell me." Owen sat in front of her. "Tell me now." Ardea just blinked guiltily at him. "TELL ME HOW YOU KNEW!!" Owen shook Ardea violently on both shoulders while shouting, "TELL ME!" over and over again. Ardea began to scream, although she was unsure if it would make things better or worse for her. Fear began to creep up on her on all sides. Miraculous swear words she'd never heard before formed in her mind while she tried to figure out what to do. Then she blinked. And it was gone.

When Ardea opened her eyes and Owen looked around slowly, they came to find themselves just where the alien had wanted them to be. The area around them was pitch black. As Owen slowly got up and looked around he saw… nothing. Owen had only seen another place as dark and mysterious as this and that was when he was going from Death to Life and ending up in a place he didn't understand.

"What are you?" he looked at Ardea, who was sitting down, probably waiting for Owen to recover from the sudden change of scenery.

Ardea stood up slowly and gave the only answer she could. "I'm an orphan." Owen looked at her curiously- for a second before changing back into his sarcastic self.

"WHY DO I ALWAYS GET STUCK WITH THE WEIRD ONES?!"

"Thanks."

"Where are we?"

"It's just here when I want to be here. I come here to calm down," Ardea looked away awkwardly, "so I don't start fires."

"Great. I'm stuck in some psycho's not-so-padded cell."

"Yup. You shouldn't have tried to strangle me."

"You dirty mother-"

"Watch your language sailor."

"Kill me."

"When we get to the other side."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Ardea sighed and took Owen's hand.

In a split second, the tables turned- they had gone from Ardea's comfort zone, to Owen's. Owen immediately dropped Ardea's hand.

"You," Owen took a deep breath, "Are really weird."

"Thanks," Ardea said distractedly, looking at the hand that had been hastily snatched from her grasp.

Oooooh! Yeah, sorry about the wait. I haven't updated since… 24th March… oh. Now I am not just sorry but DEEPLY IN REMORSE. Anyway, I hoped you liked the chapter and all that and don't forget to review!!


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